The Chikungunya pest. [Photo/doctorsalert.com]
Kwale County is safe from Chikungunya disease which has taken its toll on some parts of the neighboring Mombasa County.
County Executive Committee Member for Health Services, Mr Francis Gwama, said they had put in place preventative and safety measures to avert the disease in the region.
This comes as one person was on Friday reported having allegedly died of the disease in the Coastal City. Symptoms of the disease include high fever, joint pains, headache, muscle pain and general body weakness.
There is no vaccine and no specific treatment for the disease spread by mosquitoes and in most cases, medics recommend fluids intake and painkillers to ease the pain.
“We have taken necessary steps to forestall an outbreak of the disease in the county by giving out bed nets to residents to protect themselves against the type of mosquito that causes this disease. But, so far so good, no case has been reported here,” said Mr. Gwama.
He, however, urged residents who may display symptoms of the disease to go for medical checkup in the nearest health facility quickly as possible.
“Members of the public need to understand that the slight difference between Malaria and Chikungunya. The former is caused by a bacterium from the anopheles mosquito and the latter by a virus from a particular mosquito. To avoid this confusion, one should immediately seek medical assistance once they feel sick,” he added.
He added that creating awareness about Chikungunya is also underway to enable locals to better understand the disease.
He also advised locals to use the nets donated to them by the government for the intended purpose of protecting themselves against mosquitoes noting that some of them are being used wrongly.